Zanzibar

Only the name “Zanzibar” already rings tones of holiday, easy life, beautiful beaches and relaxing in our ears. An actually planned trip to Tanzania turned out to be spending most time in the beautiful island of Zanzibar.

As I landed in Dar Es Salaam, a typical African big city, I first had to get used to the weather. 30°C+ and humidity that felt like 70% or more. The first 24h were defined by holding back my hands which utterly wanted to scratch my itching skin, mosquito bites as I wasn’t as fast with the repellent as those little beasts and getting used to the sandy streets. Besides that, electricity decided to welcome me later and the network for my phone was already a better one. That meant, getting a Tanzanian sim card and with that, connected back to the world!

I left early in the morning from Dar Es Salaam to get the ferry to Zanzibar. A 20$-ticket (foreigner price) got me a seat on top of the ship and with that an amazing view throughout the trip. (Not talking now about my girlish side that kept complaining about how messed up my hair got by the wind.)

After ~2h, I took my first footsteps on Zanzibar. And I couldn’t believe it: WI-FI at the harbour! My expectations rose again to being not that lost somewhere on the East of Africa but being able to somehow keep my friends updated about the daily adventures on this beautiful place – yet, even in the middle of Zanzibar, not even the mobile connection has reached yet.

For me, I anyway found a piece of paradise.

In order to catch a daladala (=public bus), we went through a part of Stone Town which is world heritage today.

An impressive way which reminded me a bit of the streets of some parts of South/Eastern European islands. Today, it is used like any other place in a town, flats, shops, restaurants etc. Of course, the best places are to be discovered with locals. I got to see amazing places where most foreigners only dream to go to.

First of all, prison island:

In earlier times kept for sick people with diseases believed to be incurable, now re-built with a hotel and something very special:

You could touch them and sit next to them…amazing animals! After being so close to them in Oman, now seeing them again in Zanzibar – no words!

The next highlight was snorkeling! Not far from Prison Island, a world full of colorful fishes open up just a few meters below us. Black, white, yellow, blue, red – no end in defining the colors that fish and corals had!

This little boat, sun shine, clearest water and the view just brougt one thought: life is perfect!

Arriving back in Zanzibar, this lovely dish found its way to my grumpy stomach:

Fish, rice, beans and plantane – especially the rice reminded me a bit of the food in Sri Lanka!

By the way, if you want to taste pure sugar, drink this: 😉

Being fueled with energy, we went on to discover the historical sites…next was the slave market…

…though we decided rather to draw more attention to the market:

As the evening was coming closer, we went to the harbor and took a walk on the esplanade during sunset. The following pictures speak for themselves and cause more than amazement: